Yesterday was interesting, to say the least. Well, maybe it wasn't, but I have to draw you guys in somehow. :)

I was SUPPOSED to go karaoke-ing at Trader Todd's. That fell through after no one except one person could make it. So I cancelled that and decided to go with Gina to a housewarming party for a friend of hers and Barb's and others in that friend "group." It was cool and fun and as usual, good to hang out with those folks. :)

Afterward, Gina and I were going to head to Streetside Cafe near my house, where Mike was DJ-ing again. But we got out of the party too late. Then we thought about heading to the Streetside "afterparty" at Zentra, but we just decided to hang out for a while and then call it a night...at 4am.

Consequently, I slept until 1:30pm today. Not counting the fact that the cable guys came at 9:30am, and since Butch was out paintballing, I had to take care of business. That was fine...except that I was in a haze from little sleep, and I forgot to check Butch's TV in his room. That's not hooked up now. And we can't figure out why we don't have ESPN or some other channels, even though we ordered basic cable. So now he's going to call and get this all figured out. I really dropped the ball, I guess. :)

I took Kazak on a LONG walk after I got up...we walked down Wabansia as usual, but didn't stop at Western and turn around, which we usually do. We crossed Western and took Wabansia to Leavitt, then turned south and went to North Ave. I stopped at Urban Canine with him, just to see what the prices were and what the place was like. He needs a bath, badly. Seems like a nice place, and it's not much more expensive than PetsMart, really. We then walked back to Western, north to Wabansia and then back to my place. He's now crashed on the carpet. I bet he's tired. But I hadn't walked him that far in a while, so I felt the need to do it.

Also, yesterday morning, he met the dog across the hall--not the idiot owner's dogs upstairs, the nice lady across the hall with the separation anxiety dog next door. She was out walking her dog, Sage, while I was out. I saw them coming, and going on the "dogs take cues from their owners" theory, I stopped, squatted down by him and said, "who's that? who's coming?" which is a trigger to him that someone good is coming. Sage was playful (though they were both leashed), and Kazak played back a little bit. So I was relieved about that. Not that Kazak will have too much interaction with Sage, because she doesn't use the backyard.

In a couple hours me, Gina, Butch and Gina's friend Lisa are going to get pizza and bowl or play pool or something fun, out in the suburbs where Lisa lives. It should be fun, no doubt about it. So I need to shower and relax a bit, but I'll probably clean my room some more. It still needs it. :)

Well, I was gonna go see "Intolerable Cruelty" with Donna this evening, but that fell through--she can explain why in her blog, since it pertains to her. Plus, she said she probably would anyway--now the pressure's on. :) Whatever...

Instead, I went to Target and bought that three-section hamper I was talking about. It's made of cedar wood, so my closet smells like hamster bedding now (or a pet shop). But that isn't bad, I guess...whatever. It's not as big as I pictured. It says it can hold up to 6 loads of laundry. That's currently a lie, unless you wash approximately two things together in one load. I really LOAD my laundry machines when I wash. Maybe the canvas will stretch, I don't know.

I also restocked my deodorant and contact lens solution, like you guys cared. And got some orange Tic-Tacs. I love 'em. :)

Then I drove down to my parents' house to pick up some laundry I'd left there that my mom was nice enough to do for me. Thanks Mom...though you don't read this, or maybe you do. I don't know...and really, I don't care, despite The Onion article from last week. :) I also borrowed a couple of my brother's They Might Be Giants CDs that I don't have. I'm gonna make a mix CD of TMBG for Gina, because she's (poor thing!) never heard of them. So I'm going to fix that. :)

Tomorrow, I'm meeting a couple folks for karaoke at Trader Todd's...anyone on here is more than welcome to join us. I'll probably be there around 7:30-8:00 or so...and who knows how late. I didn't put out a big invitation...I'm just kind of telling folks as I "run into" them...so whatever works. Then, Mike is spinning at Streetside Cafe, which now is in MY NEIGHBORHOOD! Woohoo... :) And there's some afterparty at Xentra (or however you spell it)...don't know exactly how much of this stuff I'll attend, but I'm gonna do my best. :)

So we shall see...those of you who are praying types, say a prayer for my friend and coworker, Kevin, who is in the hospital with pneumonia following prep surgery last week...he's a younger guy and he really could use the thoughts, prayers and whatnot. He's a great guy, and one of the guys I actually consider a "friend" at work.

That's all for now...goodnight everyone. :)

OK, this wasted about 20 minutes of my time, so I'm passing it on to you guys. How good are YOU? I scored a 117.5 without cheating...I don't know what the logo down there is talking about--I don't think I sucked at the test. In fact, I think I did pretty damn well...I knew some of the really tough ones too, which is what earned me such a high score--or at least I think a high score...and it actually should be higher, because I misspelled an answer or two.

In honor of Displaced's first birthday, I have composed a brief poem (sing to the tune of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow):

Oh Blogger
well, you came and you took all my ranting.
Typed my fingers away.
Oh, Blogger
well, you offered me Web space for venting,
And all that for no pay.
Oh, Blogger!

There. Done. On to Year Two of "Displaced." This year has been interesting, and if I'm ever so sick that I can't work or anything, I will have much fun, no doubt, printing out my blog and re-reading it. I hope that someday this blog can be passed on to my descendents and let them see what boring and fun stuff I did on a day-to-day basis. It can let them into my life, give them a picture of who I was. I wish I had that for my ancestors. I wish I knew more about the day to day lives of my grandparents, parents, etc. Yes, i could ask them (well, my parents--the others are dead), but it's different when it's typed out or told fresh off the "mental presses" if you will. And this blog is perfect for that. Do I post some crap? Sure, but who doesn't. It's the mindframe that emerges over time in these posts that will give people who read this waste of Internet space an idea of who I was and what I did. And that's cool to me.

So off we go, into another fine year of blogging. And of course, it wouldn't be a blog's birthday celebration without Haloscan acting up. Thanks! :)

There is nothing I hate more at work than Tuesdays. I hate them. I sit, with little to do, knowing full well that I'll have 35,000 things to do later in the week, and there's NOTHING I can do ahead of time. So I sit around and wait for a radio show at 4 and then leave. It's painstaking...I hate sitting around at work. And I'm serious. It drives me nuts, because I'd rather work hard consistently throughout the week than bust my ass later but cruise early. I like to get stuff done ahead of time if possible, but that's not possible on Tuesdays.

Man, I hate Tuesdays.

Need proof that Christmas is getting earlier and earlier every year? Go here or here. Last year, the Lite was the only station to do the continuous Christmas music early, and it started on the day after Thanksgiving. But ad money breeds competition, which breeds Christmas music earlier than ever--starting today, a week and a half prior to Thanksgiving. Of course, I was made aware of this when I got to work, or I'd have listened on the way to work. I love Christmas music...but I do remember getting tired of it by the time Christmas rolled around last year, only because the Lite played the same songs over and over practically. I mean, I know there's a limited Christmas music library, but it's not that limited that I would hear "Holly Jolly Christmas" over and over and over.

Ah well...Merry Christmas already. :)

As "Displaced" approaches it's first birthday (can you believe I've been spewing my brains here for a full year already?), I've wondered just how to celebrate this momentous occasion. I'd go through and find the greatest hits of "Displaced," or the best rants of "Displaced," But that seems cheesy, and nearly 365 posts to read would not be good. So now I've put the pressure of coming up with something interesting for Thursday, the official birthday of "Displaced." Fantastic...hopefully I don't disappoint. :)

I should add, though, that although I thought my room couldn't get messier, it has. I decided to organize the closet, which means pulling all of it out, sorting through the boxes and crates and putting what I don't need down in storage. Well, problem is, I decided that around 4:30, with dinner scheduled with Gina for 6. I did this though, trying to find the duct tape and twine...but didn't. So my mirror continues to dangle. I'll have to get up early tomorrow (it better stop raining though, or the duct tape won't work) to take care of it now, though. And, of course, now there is SO MUCH CRAP in my room right now...ugh. And tomorrow is "24" evening, so it won't get cleaned then. Damn...Wednesday's about it then.

Gina and I went to a place called Pasta Bowl on Clark and Fullerton. It was good and pretty cheap, so that's nice. We chatted and then I stopped by her place for what was supposed to be a little bit, but didn't work out, as usual, that way. That's what happens when you put two talkers together. :) I saw her yearbook photos (and PolishBasia's picture after I realized that she was in there somewhere--ha ha ha ha ha!--it's OK, you looked just fine. My high school yearbook photos look much, much worse. :) :) )

So now I should head to bed...since it's freakin' 1am. Jeez...

Oh no! This search-engine query is just too damn funny and random... HAHAHAHA!
"How to get rid of ravens that pick on the lawn"
I hope whoever was looking for answers on that one found them. :) Certainly I can offer no advice.

Well, today I took care of a few things early on: figured out SBC bill, ordered cable (finally) to be hooked up Wednesday (in an amazing TWO-hour window, not the requisite FOUR-hour window--so I should only have to miss a little of work). And now, dammit, I'm going to organize my closet, because it is a freakin' mess and a half. And that will, in turn, help me clean the rest of the room up.

Or so I think. Oh yeah, and I have to jury-rig my car mirror, which is dangling further down my door and might just decide to fall off sooner than later...good ol' duct tape and twine...should be a blast. Since I don't have anywhere near the money to fix it, and partially don't even want to sink that money into it, this will have to do. Hopefully I can get it to where it stays really well, and then I won't have to worry about it at all until I sell the damn thing. Then, maybe I'll have some money. But for now, it'll just have to look like a dumb, cheap polack with jury-rigging skills is driving the car (and before any unknown visitors slander me...I'm Polish, so shut the hell up. :) ).

Ahhh, great.

This morning Butch and I get up, and I'm checking email while he is preparing for a day of roaming around town running errands and such. He walks out the back door to put a bag of laundry in his van to take home. He immediately walks back in and says, "I'll do that in a little while, since the cops are frisking somebody outside the garage." We thought, well, good, at least the cops are doing something to keep us all safe around here.

Well, I happen to then overhear at work a news promo about murders in Logan Square. I find out that last night around 2pm, a bicyclist was murdered about four short city blocks away from our place. That explains the cop presence this morning. Now, this guy was shot several hundred yards from where I've walked Kazak. In fact, this morning before I knew anything about it, I walked Kazak within several hundred yards of that spot. Plus, the shooting happened around 2am, I guess, which is right when me and Butch were returning home, roughly.

Now, I've had murders happen near my house growing up before. My uncle, murdered four blocks from my house. A kid murdered on the next block over and someone murdered right on the corner (albeit those two after I'd moved out). But this has me nervous a little bit--moreso than those other ones. I know why too...I explained to Gina that, although I'm not scared, I'm going to be jumpy now and further paranoid, which, granted isn't a bad thing. The difference is, with those other murders, it was MY neighborhood--I knew the 'hood, I knew that it was rare and I knew I was safe because I was in my element. This neighborhood is not yet my neighborhood. I am not yet 100 percent comfortable. I told Gina I'm more nervous about going home tonight, because I'll be pulling up at 3am or so, in a white sedan, which is the reported suspect car. Now, yes, I didn't do anything, but just the hassle of the whole thing would be a pain enough for me. Plus, on Monday mornings, I've had to park a block or more away from home and walk. That's not been a big deal to me in the past, but tonight you can guarantee I'll be on edge. Of course, eventually things will return to normal...not that they aren't now, but the lack of comfort in a new neighborhood sure is a strange thing to me, ya know? Plus, I'm a little stunned my mom hasn't called to warn me or check on me. I guess maybe they didn't put two and two together? I don't know.

Ah well...I had a good weekend otherwise, and short of laying it all out here for you, I'll just leave it at that. :) The circus was fun but the grand finale not so much (the cannonball dude was supposed to be on fire, but wasn't, so NO ONE saw him shoot out of the cannon in the dark), I stayed in on Friday night, and yesterday was Bob's turkey fry and then brief trip to Gameworks with Gina and Lisa. Both of those events after I spent the afternoon in Lisle at Benet Academy watching the St. Rita-Benet playoff football game with Tim, Butch and my cousins Will and Julie. Tim, Butch and I went to St. Rita, and Will and Julie went to Benet. Their father (my uncle) also went to St. Rita, but he stayed home because the weather was somewhat icky. I remembered my high school fight song and everything, and it was cool. St. Rita won what was a pretty good game, especially for Chicago Catholic League football. Usually in the past, that has been "three yards and a cloud of dust" strategy. But there was plenty of airing it out, so I was impressed. I told them that I was going to say no less than five times during the game, "Catholic League football: Catch the excitement!" But I only said it two or three times.

All in all, a great time was had...not that that wasn't expected.